Cafe Fili, a Mediterranean restaurant by the owners of the former Cafe Ole in Northwest, is opening soon in the Station House building at 701 2nd Street NE (the other side of the building opens onto H Street). Cafe Fili currently has a location in Baltimore that has been well reviewed. You can view the Baltimore location’s menu here which is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The restaurant recently applied for a liquor license. More information on opening when we get more details!

Driftwood Kitchen (400 H Street, NE) closed several months ago, but there has been some activity in the space in recent weeks. District Cuisine can now confirm that Detour Coffee Company will be opening in the spot. Detour Coffee, which also has a location in Arlington, is from the same restaurant company as Driftwood. Detour Coffee sources its coffee from Vigilante Coffee and its tea from Smith Tea in Oregon. In addition to coffee and tea, the restaurant offers a variety of breakfast sandwiches, lunch sandwiches and salads, several small plates, and brunch on Saturday/Sunday.

Prior to being Driftwood, the space housed Tru Orleans and has quite a large patio and second floor deck.

Citi Pizza–previously New Citi Pizza–has rebranded again as Pizza Walay and has repainted its interior. There is not currently an online presence, but a Yelp review reports that they offer a variety of pizzas, salads, and sandwiches. Despite the new name and sign, there is still a sign for Citi Pizza above the new one. Citi Pizza underwent a major renovation back in 2016 but had recently been listed for sale for $95,000.

According to a construction permit, Ledo Pizza will be replacing Halal Guys at 814 H Street, NE in the near future. Halal Guys opened last year but only lasted for a few months at the location before closing. Ledo Pizza has quite a few locations in the suburbs but only has two locations in the District.

Pluma by Bluebird Bakery is now open near Union Market (391 Morse Street, NE). The bakery cafe is located in the new Edison building and is a beautiful build-out with tile floor throughout, marble counter tops, and an open kitchen. Going forward, they will be open from 7am until 9pm during the week and then from 8am until 10pm on Saturdays (until 9pm on Sundays). The bakery–which had previously been a pop-up–features a menu of pastries, scones, and other breakfast items in the morning before offering a lunch/evening menu of salads, sandwiches, and pizzas (menu here). District Cuisine got a chance to preview one of their flaky and buttery croissants on Friday and greatly enjoyed it!

The Bruery–a California brewery that is opening a retail store near Union Market (513 Morse Street, NE next door to A. Litteri)-is close to opening. A peek inside shows that the space looks complete and merchandise is beginning to be stocked. Their Facebook page states:

We’re happy to announce that The Bruery Store at Union Market is nearly ready to open! Walls are being painted, lights are going up, and more importantly, beer is being stored. Final details are also being taken care of in order for us to firmly set and announce the official grand opening date.

Located at 513 Morse St. NE in Washington, D.C., the store will be open weekly from 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. from Tuesday through Saturday, upon opening.

Future Sites for Pluma and Shouk in the Edison at Union Market Building

Pluma by Bluebird Bakery (391 Morse Street, NE in the new Edison Building) plans to open soon near Union Market. According to a Craigslist posting, Pluma intends to open in December. Pluma is the brick and mortar version of Bluebird Bakery that had previously popped up. According to a story from Washington City Paper, Pluma will “serve far more than breakfast pastries, including salads, sandwiches, Roman-style pizza, dessert, coffee, beer, and wine. The cafe will seat about 30 inside and will include outdoor seating as well for their morning-through-night service.”

Insomnia Cookies (1309 H Street, NE) has a sign up that it is now hiring as the cookie shop approaches opening. The New York based cookie company with another location in Adams Morgan will be opening next door to the recently opened H Street Custom Frames.

V Street, a vegan restaurant based out of Philadelphia, is planning to open in February of next year according to a Craigslist job posting (they also applied for a liquor license earlier in the fall). The restaurant will be a part of the Apollo building at 600 H Street, along with Whole Foods, Wydown, The Daily Rider, and Solid State Books. V Street is owned Rich Landau and Kate Jacoby who also run Vedge, a nationally acclaimed sit down vegan restaurant in Philadelphia. In contrast, V Street is a fast causal, street food establishment. You can view the menu for the Philadelphia outpost–which looks great–here.

A business entitled Allure Lounge has filed a liquor license application for 711 H Street, NE (the former site of Liberty Tax Services). The application is for a C Tavern with 200 seats and a total capacity of 400 as well as an entertainment endorsement. The building has been under construction for several weeks since Liberty Tax Services vacated it. More details as we get them.